Fantasy sports: Paul Goldschmidt leads pack of first basemen

I started my preseason look at the fantasy baseball season at catcher, discussing Buster Posey and Joe Mauer as top picks, and all felt familiar.

Now I move on to first base, where not only will I not discuss Albert Pujols at the top of the list, but I have to put Paul Goldschmidt there, and this feels quite unfamiliar.

The Diamondbacks' first baseman enjoyed quite a second full season in the majors, improving on his batting average (.302), home run (36), RBI (125) and run (103) totals. His only number that took a dip was stolen bases, where he fell from 18 to 15 but still led the position. Goldschmidt won the Hank Aaron Award, a Silver Slugger Award and a Gold Glove last season, and he doesn't turn 27 until September. Not yet a household name, there is no reason to think that he couldn't better his stats again and start to become one.

Another note on lesser-known, higher-quality guys: Cincinnati's Joey Votto walked 135 times last season, far outpacing second-place Goldschmidt's 99 at the position. Votto also struck out only 138 times, helping him record a .435 on-base percentage.

Only one player outshined Goldschmidt in any first-base facet last season, and that came from the power numbers of Baltimore's Chris Davis. The Oriole entered 2013 with some fantasy interest after hitting 33 homers and driving in 85 runs the previous season. He then blew those away with 53 bombs and 138 RBIs last season.

Davis improved his numbers across the board, hitting .286 to raise his career average to .266. The fact that he was batting .356 at the end of May and was still .332 at the end of the June isn't the most heartening trend, though. Only turning 28 next month, Davis still has enough youth on his side to imagine he could reproduce his numbers, but it's tough to count on a 50-homer season from anyone, never mind someone who did it just once.

Prince Fielder had a bit of a down season in 2013, hitting a career-low 25 home runs and tying another low by scoring just 82 runs. Now that he has been traded from the Tigers to the Rangers, he is also leaving a ballpark ranked the third-most hitter friendly by ESPN's Park Factor last season.

Things aren't all bad, though. All indications are that Fielder will bat third for the Rangers, giving him the benefit of having Adrian Beltre providing protection by hitting behind him, after Fielder served as the protection for Miguel Cabrera in Detroit.

Fielder isn't the only question mark among top-tier candidates, for we do still have to deal with Pujols. The perennial All-Star had a subpar (for him) first season with the Angels in 2012, having career lows with a .285 batting average and 30 homers. He then got into only 99 games last season before being shut down with a torn plantar fascia. He also had minor knee surgery in October, but was able to swing through the offseason and has already been deemed ready to go.

One has to be wary of jumping too soon on Pujols and counting on a return to his historical greatness, but also figure out how far you want to let him fall before taking the chance on a bounce-back season.

Another slotting problem comes with the White Sox' Jose Abreu. The Cuban defector looked good enough for Chicago to give him a six-year, $68 million contract, so it's no wonder that the team's propaganda says he looks great. From a fantasy perspective, though, you may want to spend your draft picks filling starting slots before taking a chance on an unknown. If you are at the point in the draft where you are trying to build your team's depth, though, a player who outperformed Yasiel Puig in Cuba may not be a bad way to do that.

But then who offers more potential? That type of player or a Mark Teixeira returning from wrist surgery to a revamped Yankees lineup?

And why is no major league team interested in free agent Kendrys Morales, who hit. 277 with 23 homers and 80 RBIs in 156 games last season?

With all the middling questions, it is imperative that I give my sleeper pick from the group. I thus present to you the Cardinals' Matt Adams.

Adams had pretty good stats last season, batting .284 with 17 homers, 51 RBIs and 46 runs. He amassed those number in only 296 at-bats, though.

Adams' lack of speed and 80 strikeouts, against only 23 walks, gave him a low .335 on-base percentage. Even though he batted .318 in the minors over parts of four seasons, his OBP there was just .365.

He still has some work to do, then, to reach elite status, but he turns only 26 in August and has a chance to play a full season in the majors for the first time. A .295-30-80-75 season is not beyond expectation, and even if he struggles, one of .275-25-70-60 would be a good consolation prize.